[Diagnostic value of lymphocyte differentiation in the early phase following kidney transplantation]

In 50 patients who had a renal transplantation, treated with ciclosporin, regular monitoring of lymphocyte subpopulations was undertaken prospectively to assess its value with respect to cellular rejection, herpes virus infection, and ciclosporin overdosage. Herpes virus infection was characterized by inversion of the T4/T8 ratio below 1.0 (sensitivity 90%, specificity 88%), caused by proliferation of the T8 subpopulation, which--compared with the findings in patients with rejection crises--was significantly raised (P less than 0.001). But such rejection crises could not be predicted from the T4/T8 ratio. Ciclosporin had no effect on the ratio, total lymphocyte count in this group being higher (P less than 0.002) than in patients with rejection.